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5 Great Uses for Your Old Fishing Reels

If you’re like most anglers, you probably have this condition called “collectivitis”. People collect things for all types of reasons, and through the ages they’ve collected books, stamps, coins, and even cars. As a fishing enthusiast, you may have especially bought a lot of fishing reels simply because you wanted to try a new one that just came out on the market. This means you may have lots of old fishing reels that still work, yet they’re just collecting dust in the garage.

But you don’t have to clutter up your garage with them, and in fact they can still be of some use. So get them out and make them work for you in the following ways.

1.Use them to teach friends and family how to fish. Many newbies start with using old reels because they don’t want to spend good money on equipment for an activity they’re not sure if they will enjoy. But you can get past this hurdle by simply lending your old fishing reels to educate newbies.

This is especially great if you can use them to teach your kids, nephews or nieces, or even grandkids. Fishing can be a great bonding experience, since there are a lot of opportunities to talk and to learn. Besides, if the two of you are on a boat you have a captive audience for all your old wartime or childhood stories!

Using old fishing reels is also preferable to buying a new one when you’re teaching a kid, as if it gets messed up at least you don’t lose a lot of money. You’re not using it anyway, right?

2.You can sell it. This is a very obvious solution to junk and clutter, right? It’s best if you sell this during a garage sale, or on a special town sale for charity or for a sports team.

You can also sell your old fishing reels with other types of old fishing equipment you have hanging around. Then when people pass by and show some interest, you can teach them on how fishing reels work and how each different types offer different benefits. This gives you the same feeling of satisfaction when you teach friends and family, except this time you also gain some money when you sell your old fishing gear.

Of course, you can just sell it on eBay. You should first get it to a pro so it can be cleaned and serviced properly. Then you can put it on auction, with a reasonable “buy it now” price. You can check out what these prices are with the other fishing reels you see offered on the site.

You’d be surprised at how many anglers look through eBay for fishing reels. Just make sure you set the “buy it now” reasonably, so you can have bidders biting at your old fishing reels.

3.You can use it to teach yourself how to service your fishing reel.Are you the type of angler who never services their fishing reels? This may explain why you need to keep buying a new one so frequently—proper maintenance of fishing reels is a must if you want them to last.

The problem with maintenance is that it can be an intimidating DIY process when you’re dealing with an extremely expensive fishing reel worth hundreds of dollars. It’s actually very easy to mess it up, and then you end up with a broken fishing reel. You can use the wrong cleaners, or lose parts along the way.

But you can practice by using your old fishing reels instead. Get one, and then Google for info on how to break it down and clean it properly. It’s best if you can find a YouTube video that involves the exact type of fishing reel you have. Sometimes different brands require different maintenance procedures.

You don’t have to spend money on having a pro clean it for you when you learn to do it yourself. Also, it makes you feel like a real veteran angler. Learning how to service your fishing reels can be as satisfying as catching a big fish—and you can feel superior to those who still don’t know what you just learned.

4.Use them for spare parts. Some people use or buy old cars just to get the spare parts, and you can do the same for your old fishing reels. If you’ve learned to service your fishing reels, then it’s a small step to know how to put another part into your new fishing reel if it gets damaged.

In addition, learning to service your reels allows you to tune it, just like a car aficionado learns how to tune their car with aftermarket parts. When you know how to replace parts on your new reels, you don’t need to put in the same stock parts or old parts from your old fishing reels. Instead, you can really spruce up your new reels by putting in high performance replacement parts, such as drag components polishing shims, and premium ball bearings.

5.Use them as backup. You don’t have to break down your old fishing reels if you don’t have to. You can instead just use them for backup if they’re still in good working condition. So if there’s a problem with your new reel, you can just use your old one so you don’t mess up your weekend and you can enjoy your fishing experience.

In fact, you can also use a different line on your old reels so you have a different spare on hand for different fishing situations. If you have a fluorocarbon line on your new reel, you can have a braided lien on your old one. So if the situation calls for a braided line, you have a ready substitute waiting to be used. You can then simply swap reels as the situation calls for it.

Don’t waste your old fishing reels by just leaving them in your garage. That’s just sad. Make them useful again in one of the ways we’ve listed and you’ll be better off. Waste not, want not!